Classique: 1941

Apparently I haven't blogged since the start of January. What can I say, they only bring my head out when the tourism peaks. I then peck away at the keyboard with my nose, which is slow going. (Sneezing really messes up my punctuation). Maybe one day I'll get lucky and meet Leonard Nimoy's head.

Before they cart me back to my designated shelf spot, I will mention that Strange Horizons has published my review of classic SF stories from 1942. This is my review of Volume 3 in a series of 25 anthologies. Believe it or not, I'm looking forward to reading and writing about the remaining twenty-two volumes.

Link:

• Review: Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 3 @ SH

Classique

What's a three month absence between friends? Nothin', I tell ya, hardly worth mentioning!

So I'm back, at least for now. (And now.) (And now.) (And so on....)

My review of classic stories first published in 1940 came out in Strange Horizons two days ago.

Link:

• Review: Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 2 @ SH

That's two reviews done in this series -- only twenty-three to go. Bravely on!

The below is a nice little feature on John Kessel.

Classic Stuff

My review of classic stories first published in 1939 came out in Strange Horizons a few days ago.

Niall introduces the new review feature over at Torque Control; and here's a link to the piece itself:

• Review: Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1 @ SH

On a different note, over at his blog Daryl Gregory has posted a video of a talk he gave on Philip K. Dick; mucho bueno, recommended.

Six Fascinating Stories

My review of six 2009 stories I really enjoyed has been published at Strange Horizons.

I was lucky in that I was able to blather on pretty much to my heart's content about each piece :-)

• Review: Selected short fiction from 2009 @ SH

Review of Tobias Buckell @ Strange Horizons

This is the thirteenth review I've written this year, and the eleventh to be published. Link-y:

• Review of Tobias Buckell’s first collection, Tides from the New Worlds, @ SH.

Review of Clarkesworld #32 at The Fix

This is the eleventh review I've written this year, and the tenth to be published. Link-y:

• Clarkesworld #32, May 2009, over at The Fix.

Review of Clarkesworld #31 at The Fix

This is the ninth review I've written this year, and the seventh to be published. Link-y:

• Clarkesworld #31, April 2009, over at The Fix.

Review of Ken Scholes' Collection at IRoSF

This is the fourth review I've written this year, and the sixth to be published.

It came out today in the May, 2009 issue of The Internet Review of Science Fiction.

Link-y:

• Review of Long Walks, Last Flights, and Other Strange Journeys by Ken Scholes @ IRoSF
  

Review of Clarkesworld #30 at The Fix

This is the seventh review I've written this year, and the fifth to be published. Link-y:

• Clarkesworld #30, March 2009, over at The Fix.

Review of Paul Melko's The Walls of the Universe at SH

This is the third review I've written this year, and the fourth to be published so far. It came out yesterday. Link-y:

• Review of Paul Melko's The Walls of the Universe @ Strange Horizons

Review of Clarkesworld #29 at The Fix

This is the fifth review I've written this year, and the third to be published so far. Link-y:

• Clarkesworld #29, February 2009, over at The Fix.

Review of "Problems of the Solid State" in The Fix

Farrago's Wainscot # 9 has received a thorough and enjoyable review by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz over at The Fix.

Here's what she said about my story:

" “Problems of the Solid State” by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro is a lovely read. Again, our narrator is unnamed, and he finds himself all alone on the day after he has found the woman he loves. Not only is she gone, but as the story unfolds, we discover that she has left not only him, but Earth as well.

Zinos-Amaro taps into the stream of consciousness and rides it like a wave for the purpose of creating a narrative about loss that is so effortlessly written, it reads as light as air. A fitting end to an issue that started out on a somber note."

Review of Clarkesworld #28 and Other Items

My second review of the year has been posted. Here's the link:

• Clarkesworld #28, January 2009, over at The Fix.

A few more items:

I was recently wondering what an editor's function might be when it comes to editing a reprint novel, since the line-editing has presumably already been done by some previous editor, so I asked one of the field's top, Lou Anders. His response led to a conversation of sorts, available for perusal here.

RT recently posted a list of the best SF films aimed for thoughtful audiences; again, Lou's post on this inspired a response by me that led to a little exchange.

Victoria Hoyle has written an interesting review of an un-missable collection, The Best of Lucius Shepard, over at Strange Horizons. Once again, Shepard's story "Only Partly Here" gets a pretty bad wrap ("disappointing clichés"). Paul Kincaid, for instance, wrote that "Shepard has done much more interesting work," and others have expressed similar sentiments. Despite all this, I continue to think it's an excellent piece, and I'm glad it was included in 2007's Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine 30th Anniversary Anthology. I find Hoyle's review to be a particularly good example of "reader-response criticism," tracing as it does her journey from initial dismissal to a reconsideration of the material, and her eventual (mixed) assessment of it.

Review of Clarkesworld #27 at The Fix

My first review of the year has been posted. Here's the link:

Clarkesworld #27, December 2008, over at The Fix.

Review of When Diplomacy Fails

My review of the military SF anthology When Diplomacy Fails has just been published over at The Fix; the link is here.

Review of Fast Forward 2

My review of Fast Forward 2 has been published over at Strange Horizons: you can find it here. If you have any thoughts on the anthology, I'd love to hear them, either here or on the SH comments section.

Review of Clarkesworld #26

I recently had the pleasure of writing a review of Issue #26 of Clarkesworld for The Fix.

The review has been published and is available here.

Book #34, Fast Foward 2, edited by Lou Anders

On Friday I finished reading this anthology. Over the weekend I wrote up a lengthy review and submitted it to Strange Horizons. Updates to follow.

Review of Eclipse 2

Cool way to kick off November. My review of Eclipse 2 has just been published over at The Fix; the link is here.

Book #34, The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two, edited by George Mann

Work at the DayJob has been pretty grueling, but early last week I spotted an opportunity of decreased responsibility for this last Monday, and I was able to strategically take the day off. So I jam-packed as much as I could into my three-day weekend, including this fine 400 page anthology, which I finished yesterday. I also wrote up a review of it, and will post updates when the review is published.